KPN to study options after court rules against it in Fox case

Dutch telco KPN has said it will study its legal options to overturn a ruling by a Dutch court that Fox Entertainment Group can charge it more than rival providers for carriage of Dutch football.

KPN earlier took legal action against Fox’s Eredivisie Media & Marketing subsidiary to challenge the new terms the latter wanted for carriage of its sports channels, which broadcast the Dutch Eredivisie and KNVB Cup football tournaments.

KPN claimed that Fox wanted to charge it more than rival providers despite an earlier commitment not to discriminate between different distributors.

However, the judge ruled that Fox was not obliged to offer exactly the same conditions to different operator.

KPN has said it is not willing to pass price rises on to customers, although it added that it would do its utmost to ensure that the channels remain available for customers that want to sign up.

Dutch regulator the Authority for Consumers and Markets last week launched an investigation into the terms under which Fox proposed to sell its sports channels.